My inspiration to pursue teaching came from many different directions. The first influence towards teaching came from my family. My mother was a teacher, teaching first and second grades and later as a reading specialist, she taught for over 25 years before she had to take a disability retirement. However, my mother wasn't the only teacher in the family, her mother was a teacher, teaching high school English, her father taught for a time, my aunt was a teacher, teaching fourth and fifth grades, as well as my great aunt and my mother's cousin. Teaching is part of our family, and I grew up thinking I would become a teacher myself.
The second influence towards teaching was my high school chemistry teacher, Mr. Alsin. I had Mr. Alsin for two years of chemistry in high school, and his class was where I first fell in love with chemistry -- this logical, mathematical science -- which quickly became my favorite class. He kept the subject interesting, introducing laboratory experiments very early in the year, providing different instructional methods for key concepts in addition to those from the book, and genuinely enjoyed his job and the subject. I even remember him hosting other people who worked in science and were considering switching careers to teaching during our AP chemistry class, and I remember thinking that might be a possibility for me as well. As I had transitioned from middle school to high school, my proclivity for math and science lead my teachers to suggest engineering as a career, and it sounded interesting to me and was supported by my parents, so my inclination began to switch from teaching to engineering. But having fallen in love with chemistry at the hands of Mr. Alsin, I chose to study chemical engineering. When I decided to switch my major from engineering to Chemistry, Mr. Alsin was the person I consulted about choosing the best program when I was transferring schools.
The third and final influence towards teaching is my husband and children. When I married my husband, an active duty Marine, we were lucky enough to be stationed in San Diego where the biotech industry provided opportunities for me to work as a chemist and auditor. We were stationed there for four years and I loved my job working in the pharmaceutical industry, learning all about both the regulatory, paperwork side of drug development as well as the laboratory science side of it. However, being a military family we soon moved across the country to North Carolina, which has some great biotech industry areas as well, though we lived near the Marine Corps base which was two and a half hours away in a small coastal town. I did work with a cosmetic and over-the-counter drug company but once I had my son I stayed home with him as the commute was not worth the paycheck. Again the military sent us across the country, again back to San Diego but this time to the north county area. After having my daughter I began to be anxious to return to the "adult" world where I soon realized that my three year absence from the work force would mean virtually starting over at a biotech company, and the commute to the majority of companies would be prohibitive due to distance and traffic with small children. Again the idea of teaching as a better portable career, especially now that I have my two children, began to crop up in my mind.
I decided to look into the teacher certification program through the California State University system since my friend had recently completed the program and highly recommended it. I was looking into the prerequisites I needed prior to applying to the program when we got notified that we were to move to Rhode Island the next month. Sadly this news came while we were at my mother's funeral. Now more than ever I really just felt the need to teach, to be closer to my mother, to bring my love of chemistry to another generation. Once we arrived in Rhode Island, I began looking at the various universities to see if any of them had a program that would allow me to become a chemistry teacher as a graduate student and found URI.
4/5 Sarah - Nicely done. You should add an introductory paragraph that provides an overview/foreshadowing of the influences in your decision to teach. You should look again at your last paragraph to make sure it sums up your experiences as a conclusion.
The second influence towards teaching was my high school chemistry teacher, Mr. Alsin. I had Mr. Alsin for two years of chemistry in high school, and his class was where I first fell in love with chemistry -- this logical, mathematical science -- which quickly became my favorite class. He kept the subject interesting, introducing laboratory experiments very early in the year, providing different instructional methods for key concepts in addition to those from the book, and genuinely enjoyed his job and the subject. I even remember him hosting other people who worked in science and were considering switching careers to teaching during our AP chemistry class, and I remember thinking that might be a possibility for me as well. As I had transitioned from middle school to high school, my proclivity for math and science lead my teachers to suggest engineering as a career, and it sounded interesting to me and was supported by my parents, so my inclination began to switch from teaching to engineering. But having fallen in love with chemistry at the hands of Mr. Alsin, I chose to study chemical engineering. When I decided to switch my major from engineering to Chemistry, Mr. Alsin was the person I consulted about choosing the best program when I was transferring schools.
The third and final influence towards teaching is my husband and children. When I married my husband, an active duty Marine, we were lucky enough to be stationed in San Diego where the biotech industry provided opportunities for me to work as a chemist and auditor. We were stationed there for four years and I loved my job working in the pharmaceutical industry, learning all about both the regulatory, paperwork side of drug development as well as the laboratory science side of it. However, being a military family we soon moved across the country to North Carolina, which has some great biotech industry areas as well, though we lived near the Marine Corps base which was two and a half hours away in a small coastal town. I did work with a cosmetic and over-the-counter drug company but once I had my son I stayed home with him as the commute was not worth the paycheck. Again the military sent us across the country, again back to San Diego but this time to the north county area. After having my daughter I began to be anxious to return to the "adult" world where I soon realized that my three year absence from the work force would mean virtually starting over at a biotech company, and the commute to the majority of companies would be prohibitive due to distance and traffic with small children. Again the idea of teaching as a better portable career, especially now that I have my two children, began to crop up in my mind.
I decided to look into the teacher certification program through the California State University system since my friend had recently completed the program and highly recommended it. I was looking into the prerequisites I needed prior to applying to the program when we got notified that we were to move to Rhode Island the next month. Sadly this news came while we were at my mother's funeral. Now more than ever I really just felt the need to teach, to be closer to my mother, to bring my love of chemistry to another generation. Once we arrived in Rhode Island, I began looking at the various universities to see if any of them had a program that would allow me to become a chemistry teacher as a graduate student and found URI.
4/5 Sarah - Nicely done. You should add an introductory paragraph that provides an overview/foreshadowing of the influences in your decision to teach. You should look again at your last paragraph to make sure it sums up your experiences as a conclusion.